Traditional ways of controlling smart lights are through smart phone companion mobile applications. These mobile applications provide basic functions of changing the brightness of smart lights. However, sometimes it is very cumbersome to use an application for very basic operations. For instance, take a simple task of switching off the light. On a smart system, this usually involves the following steps: user locates cellphone; user turns on the screen of cellphone; optionally, user unlocks cellphone; user locates and opens the smart light application; and user toggles the light off
The entire process usually takes 5 to 10 seconds, much longer than a traditional way of just using a physical light switch. Some proposed conventional solutions offer limited voice controlled capabilities to light bulbs to speed up the process of controlling the lights. For instance, Apple's HomeKit and Amazon Echo both provide simple verbal commands, such as “turn off kitchen lights.” However, these simple commands only change a binary state: either turning the lights on or off. This limits users from many desirable and creative ways of using their lights.